Tuesday, August 19, 2014

100 mile ride

Blazing Saddles 100 mile

I started back riding the ElliptiGo earlier this summer when
I was sidelined with an ankle/foot injury. Last fall on the Go I focused on
riding as many of the paved summits that I could. This summer I tried to find
some interesting locations to ride and also started thinking about longer
distance rides. I did a couple of 50km (31 mile) rides on the Go and in July I
rode 100km (62m) up and over the Kancamagus pass and back. That got me thinking
I could do 100 miles (especially if it didn’t have any big climbs). Most of the
100’s that I could find included a lot of dirt road, which is fine on a bike but
not pleasant on the Go. I found a very inexpensive ride close to home in Rowley
MA, put on by the North Shore Cyclists. The week before I hit the Windham rail
trail and rode for 50 miles, as a test for how I’d feel. The fifty went well,
but 100 on the road might be a totally different animal.

I felt a bit out of place as I was the only person riding an
ElliptiGo but I would have felt out of place anyway since I’d never done
anything like this before. Since it wasn’t a race people just got in there
groups and started off just after 8am. Conditions were just great with
temperatures in the 60s going up to the upper 70s and very low humidity. My
plan was to aim for 14 mph, but I had it in my head that any time it felt like
an “effort” I’d back off. In the early miles I had packs ride by me and every
once in a while I’d pass someone. After about 5 miles I figured I’d be riding
alone so I put on my Shuffle and for the next 6+ hours I listened to
Carbonleaf. I only had one bad patch where I felt tired and worried about the
distance left and that was around 52-53 miles, after that I felt pretty good and
even picked the pace up. For the most part the miles just rolled by!

My splits for each 10 miles were:

0-10

38:59

10-20

38:53

20-30

39:38

30-40

38:07

40-50

38:39

50-60

39:54

60-70

40:01

70-80

38:47

80-90

37:16

90-100

37:58

Preparing my gear for the ride

Highlights along the way:

10 miles – crossed Rocks Village bridge (Merrimack River)
then 5 miles along the River

17 miles – Saw MJ running at Millvale reservation in
Haverhill, not sure if she recognized me when I hollered “MJ!”

21 miles – Crossed into NH (Plaistow then Newton)

27 miles – The first aid station of the day, got a lot of
strange looks as I rode in on the Go

50km – Nice view from the top of Bear Hill and a fast descent
back into Massachusetts

35-40 miles – Scenic stretch along the Merrimack River

41-42 miles – Ride through Maudslay State Park

44 miles – Nice view along the Artichoke Reservoir

46-49 miles – Passed through the Martin Burns Wildlife
management area

50 miles – Big rest stop, lots of people hanging out here

52-53 – Probably the most tired and lonely stretch, windy and
exposed along the flats of the Little River

100km – Tied my longest distance ride while on Route 133 in
Rowley

70 miles – Saw small groups of 100 mile riders coming out of
the final rest stop (10 miles ahead of me)

70-75 – Great stretch of road where I felt like I was moving
really well, scenic part as well with Willowdale, Appleton Farms, and Bradley
Palmer state park

78 miles – Final rest stop, just a quick break to fill up my
water-bottle and get rolling

81-85 miles – The only time I was with anyone, went a little
bit harder to stay with a group of four guys. The most fun I had during the
day

92 miles – Beautiful narrow twisty road that was recently
paved, rolling along through Cleveland Farm and Georgetown/Rowley State
forest